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The Dark Continent

Itís round 3 and the last German unit just got killed in Africa.
The German navy has been dead since round 1, and Algeria and Libya are
now in Allied hands and will most likely remain there until the end of
the game.

Sound familiar? Probably, unless you were playing a game with a
German player who actually had a long term African strategy. Axis lights
usually get turned off all too quick on the Dark Continent.

You may be asking yourself, ďWhat is a long term African strategy?
How can you maintain a German presence in Africa when your fleet is dead
and you canít reinforce?Ē

Itís simple. Donít lose your fleet.

ďHow?Ē you might ask.

The answer will surprise you.

Buy a transport on turn one off of Italy.

It really is that simple. Well, that and manage to keep a minimum of
one transport down there from then on protecting the German battleship
and maintaining a naval presence in the Mediterranean. That fuels
Germany infantry going into Africa, and allows Germany to maintain an
ongoing battle with the US and UK for Africa at a minimum and in many
cases allows them to take over all of Africa and hold it.

That can be a shift in 11 IPCs from the Allies to the Axis
(considering that the alternative is often a loss of Algeria and Libya
and those 2 starting Axis IPCs).

It all starts with buying the transport on round one with Germany.
The next step requires a lot of discipline for the German player.

Donít move your battleship or transport on round one. By all means
transport a couple of infantry over into Africa, but resist the
temptation to use your Italian fleet to supplement your offensive
operations.

You may think that itís foolhardy to not use such assets, but
sometimes patience pays off.

In this case, keeping your fleet off Italy allows you to transport
two infantry to Africa undeterred, dropping them off in Livya. Plus, the
transport that you build gets to go right alongside the other two naval
units, giving you a nice cushion for the forthcoming British attack (if
they even attempt it).

Moving your fleet would not only deprive your transport in production
of the ability to be built alongside the battleship, but also open up
the fleet to either British fighters which could land in Gibraltar, or
the fighter coming from India.

Meanwhile, your troops in Libya should NOT attack Egypt. Feel free to
blitz down and back to scoop up FEq, or take WAf, but donít leave your
tank exposed with less than two infantry alongside defending it.

From there, you should do your best to keep the Allies from being
able to bring enough units to bear against your Med. fleet by moving it
back and forth in a game of cat and mouse. If one or both of your
transports get killed, buy at least one more. You should always have at
least one, preferably two. Two transports alongside the battleship are a
necessity to survive the potential first round attack by the British.

It also helps to keep some German fighters in France in order to
strike down at any Allied transports that drop Allied ground forces into
Africa. The German bomber can reach from Germany itself or somewhere
else.